Railway Ministry has desired that a fortnight-long programme be organized all over Indian Railways - from 26.05.2015 to 09.06.2015.This programme – Passenger and Customer Facilitation Fortnight – is to be primarily directed towards Passenger Amenities and Customer Care.Special Drives and Campaigns regarding Cleanliness and Sanitation, Safety & Security, Punctuality, Skill Development, Health checkups, Catering services, Vigilance Checks, Ticket checking, Yoga & Ayurveda and upkeep and maintenance of staff quarters will be conducted.This programme will seek to create awareness about the performance highlights of Indian Railways during the year 2014-15.

Southern Railway is a passenger oriented railway and continuously strives to improve its services and efficiency.This zonal railway takes numerous initiatives to provide comfortable journeys to its passengers, enhance the safety and security of its passengers and to improve cleanliness in railway premises and o­nboard trains.

The performance highlights of Southern Railway during 2014-15 are detailed below:

8 new trains were introduced by Southern Railway.

1099 special trains were operated to clear the extra rush of passengers and to aid the waitlisted passengers.Various trains were permanently augmented by 96 coaches and temporarily augmented by 8470 coaches.

GPS based Passenger Information System has been provided in 50 EMU/MEMU rakes which helps in providing audio-visual announcements for easy identification of the next railway station and destination railway station by passengers.

A mechanized laundry of 6 ton capacity is functioning in Chennai.Another laundry of 3 ton capacity has been commissioned in Kochuveli.It is proposed to establish mechanized laundries under Build, Own, Operate & Transfer (BOOT) model in Coimbatore, Ernakulam and Madurai.

Clean Train Station system is successfully functioning in Erode railway station for the past 6 years.This system was commissioned in Shoranur o­n 03.03.2015.It has been proposed to establish this system in Chennai Central, too.

9 Road Over Bridges in Tamil Nadu and 10 Road Over Bridges in Kerala have been completed.

1 Road Under Bridge completed in Tamil Nadu.

20 Limited Use Sub-way completed in Southern Railway.

Of the 107 stations identified to be developed as Adarsh stations, 95 stations have been developed so far.10 stations – Kannapuram, Nileshwar, Charvattur, Kozhikode, Irinjalakuda, Chingavanam, Ariyalur, Tiruverumbur, Theni and Puducherry – developed during the year.

Ladies Special EMUs are escorted by teams of women RPF staff called ‘Sakthi Padai’.Furthermore, ladies coaches in EMU trains running between 20.00 hrs. and 06.00 hrs. are also escorted by women RPF personnel.

86 kms. of doubling works completed in Chengalpattu – Villupuram section and trains are running.Works completed in 20 km stretch between Chengalpattu – Karunguzhi and will be opened after inspection by CRS.

26 kms. of doubling works completed between Kallakudi Palanganatham – Ariyalur as part of Villupuram – Dindigul doubling project.

As a gesture of goodwill, Southern Railway took special efforts to transport Yemen evacuees.Railway helpdesks were opened at Kochi International Airport & Kochi Port in association with NORKA (Non Resident Keralites Affairs) to render assistance to passengers arriving by special aircrafts/ships between 1st April to 18th April, 2015.228 passengers willing to travel by train were moved to Aluva station for further transit.Free tickets were issued for travel by Sleeper Class from Aluva railway station to their destination.Assistance by way of accommodation in dormitories, arranging of food etc. was also extended to the returnees.

During the financial year 2014-15, total earnings of the Division increased by 6.7%.The earnings during 2014-15 is Rs.3,411/- crores as against Rs.3,197/- crores during 2013-14.

Puncuality of Mail/Express trains have improved to 95%.

On the safety front, 8 unmanned level crossings have been eliminated by manning/construction of subway/closure etc.

As announced in the Railway Budget 2014-15, this division has introduced 6 weekly express services and 1 bi-weekly express service.In addition, cross-sectoral services from Velacherry to Ponneri/Sullurpeta and Avadi/Tiruttani have been provided duly extending the services running between Chennai Beach and Velachery. This includes re-introduction of MEMU services between Chennai Central – Tirupati.

The Divisional Railway Manager stated that the job is extremely challenging and deeply satisfying while expressing his confidence that the railwaymen with their combined efforts shall overcome all obstacles and achieve all round improvement.Smt. Bharti Sharma, distributed the awards to the meritorious railwaymen.